<p>I would distinguish early decision, early action, and early action sole choice. Early decision shows a clear first choice since it carryies with it an obligation to attend if accepted; it also does not prevent one from applying early action elsewhere. Plain early action implies nothing other than that you have your ducks in a row, you can do the paperwork in time, and - at some schools, Notre Dame, for example - that you condsider yourself at least as or more qualified than most successful applicants. Early action sole choice is a different kind of animal; it doesn't bind you to the school; it just says, I guess, that for an early answer from a school that is clearly important to you, you are willing to forego applying early elsewhere. It is not at all clear to me that, for any of these, except MAYBE early decision. a school would want to say that it wants to treat some legacy applicants better than they would otherwise be treated - i.e., with slight favoritism. I have heard a number of people from Yale - the school where my son is applying - about the very limited preferred treatment they give legacies. I have never heard one of them distinguish between early action legacies and regular decision legacies.</p>
<p>re, each school different, check website:
University of Pennsylvania
[quote]
What is a legacy?
Children and grandchildren of all University of Pennsylvania degree recipients are considered legacies during the undergraduate admissions process.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Missing from all the stats on legacy admissions is what I have seen from personal experience - the legacy student may be a less than enthusiastic candidate for mummy and/or daddy's college. (Sluggbug mentions this:
[quote]
S was lukewarm about going there all along and really was leaning toward someplace new.
[/quote]
) Often the student is pushed into applying by the parent and is reluctant to express reluctance to the parent. So, parent thinks student really really wants to attend alumni U, but the lack of enthusiasm shows thru in the application, either in the essays (Often asking, "Why this U?" ... an answer of 'why not?" won't cut it) or an interview. Admissions officers have finely tuned BS-meters and sometimes the "shocking rejection" is a secret relief to the student.</p>
<p>It's been mentioned on this thread already, but a Penn adcom told everyone explicitly in one of the Penn public "information sessions" that legacys get the best (perhaps only significant) tip when applying ED. Doesn't make it necessarily true anywhere else.</p>
<p>Both my mom and dad graduated from Stanford and I was rejected EA. My mom was really hilariously furious when a few days later we got a postcard talking about their wonderful legacy program and asking for donations. :)</p>
<p>My d was waitlisted at Georgetown today (legacy) It was a nice letter, though.....</p>
<p>I guess in the next re-write of our wills we'll be "whiting out" the section that leaves our real property and accumulated assets to Georgetown University....chuckle chuckle....</p>
<p>i was waitlisted at my parents alma mater and i should have gotten a flat out rejection.</p>
<p>elphaba and clayvessel: sorry to hear about rejection and waitlist. :(</p>
<p>Have you received acceptances from other colleges?</p>
<p>Quote Eli: "Early decision shows a clear first choice since it carryies with it an obligation to attend if accepted; it also does not prevent one from applying early action elsewhere."</p>
<p>Can someone please clarify this? I thought Early decision forbids applying EA elsewhere.</p>
<p>Why would applying ED forbid applying EA elsewhere? Afterall, EA is not binding. Therefore, if ED is accepted and EA is accepted, the student goes to ED school. I know that applying ED forbids applying ED elsewhere. That makes sense.</p>
<p>Each school has its own ED policy. Some schools forbid all other early applications, which would include EA applications, and some forbid only other ED applications so you could still apply EA.</p>
<p>there are a few schools (I believe Princeton is one) which forbid other early applications if you apply there ED. But most ED schools don't.</p>
<p>My father received his Ph.D degree in Chemistry from Northwestern. He also donates to the school. I am currently a RD applicant waiting for my decision from NU. When I first started looking at colleges, NU was on my list simply because my dad wanted me to apply. Early on, I didn't care much for the school, my dad loved it and a good friend of mine is currently attending. When I visted the school in October, my opinion completely changed. I love the school.</p>
<p>However, as far as my chances go. I don't think I'm a particularily strong candidate but I am probably somewhere within the ball park (lower end). In other words, there is only a slim chance that I will be accepted, even though the chance is still there. But my dad says he's 100% sure that I will get in because of legacy. I'm sure that if I get rejected from NU, my dad wouldn't take it very well...</p>
<p>hi jlauer:
So far, my d has been offered the Echols (forgive my spelling) Scholar at UVA ( we have not gotten the official letter yet) and a Presidential scholarship at USC, plus admission to Skidmore as an alternate for Skidmore's $40,000 science scholarship, so our choice is now probably between USC and UVA..... .... and she really needs the warm climate..... Still, the creativity at Skidmore was a big draw, and if she were to get the money it would come back onto our radar.</p>
<p>We visited USC and she loved it despite the size, and we will visit UVA probably next weekend..... I am sure she will adore UVA-- most of its students are fanatics about the school and I like the southern manners and honor code.... Wow... what an insanely difficult choice....Both USC and UVA students adore these schools and that says something....</p>
<p>She applied to 7 other SUPER stretch Ivy League schools which I am now assuming was probable waste of time and money... but you never know.....<br>
She also got accepted at UCLA out of state with no money --- which we feel very honored by. So, far my d got herself into two top public institutions-- and two good private schools, so I should not be in any way upset by Georgetown's waitlist.... </p>
<p>I guess it was just the legacy thing and the snooty top private school thing and the "anxiety from my youth about small envelopes" thing, and perhaps the old parent "ego thing" ........</p>
<p>In thinking about the Georgetown waitlist, I realize that my daughter's strengths are science, and both USC, UCLA and UVA would offer her more opportunity in science.....</p>
<p>Another rejection story worth sharing. a fellow classmate of mine, GREAT kid, strong studnet, really super big time humanitarian, got rejected from Georgetown, his dad, uncle and grandfather all went there! Not even a courtest waitlist! I feel really bad for him.......he only applied to two other schools. I wish you all lots of luck, don't know about your schools, but we have alot of surprises with legacies.</p>
<p>My wife is an incredibly loyal Syracuse alumna and my family has 4 alums going back to 1915. My son applied ED at the suggestion of his school and was rejected outright. M/V SATs 1380, with a low GPA 2.8 at a prominent New England prep school. </p>
<p>The admissions officer told us the minimum ED GPA was 3.6 in core courses - no electives - and they could care less about legacies and extracurriculars. It was grades alone. She also told us that by policy, Syracuse does not defer ED applicants to the general admission pool. </p>
<p>In retrospect, going regular admission would have made more sense. We know of at least one admit in a local public high school who was admitted last week with a 2.4 GPA and 1050 boards. </p>
<p>In reponse to a poison pen letter from my wife, the Chancellor at Syracuse said it was a tough year and he should reapply as a transfer. Two days later she got a call for an annual fund donation, and to my surprise, she told them to remove her from their lists. I got the clear impression they blew it with my S, but he doesn't care anymore and they've turned off a host of alums here.</p>
<p>My impression is that Syracuse was swamped with applications this year, did a very quantitative pass at ED applicants, and then settled in to a less calculating and less rigorous review with the general pool.</p>
<p>My daughter was rejected by both my alma mater and her paternal grandmother's alma mater last year (right after Grandma's school had received a big check from her estate). Both are highly selective schools and her stats put her in the lower end of the applicant pool. so although we were disappointed we understood why she was rejected, and didn't hold it against those schools. However, she was waitlisted at my husband's alma mater (a school at which her SAT scores were 100 points above their 75th percentile), and the head of the department to which she was applying was extraordinarily rude to her at her audition. THAT school is not getting another dime from our family!</p>
<p>clayvessel:</p>
<p>Glad to hear about your dd's other fab prospects -- esp the UVA Echols! Awesome! Best of luck on your upcoming college visits. and Best of luck on hearing about the "reaches". :)</p>
<p>Since my oldest is a junior, I haven't gone thru this process yet. </p>
<p>Sooooooo, I was wondering....</p>
<p>Does one hand know what the other hand is doing when it comes to the ap process. Would a college realize if a person applied ED (or EA) and then also applied RD to the same college (in hopes that either one would yield a "yes".) </p>
<p>I was thinking with thousands of aps, would schools notice during the RD process if they came across a name that had been rejected during the ED (or EA) process?</p>
<p>jlauer95: I have a 150% of tuition scholarship for 4 years at Brigham Young University, and I'm waiting to hear from Harvard and Princeton (which probably won't happen). So everything's worked out- I would just rather have gone to Stanford.</p>
<p>jlauer. That strategy wo't work most places. Your daughter will have a file based on name and SS # or the like. Second application will find its way to the same file, and they will see what you are up to -- and they are not likely to appreciate.</p>